This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Orion nebula, our closest massive star-making factory, 1,450 light-years from Earth. The nebula is close enough to appear to the naked eye as a fuzzy star in the sword of the popular hunter constellation.
The nebula itself is located on the lower half of the image, surrounded by a ring of dust. It formed in a cold cloud of gas and dust and contains about 1,000 young stars. These stars illuminate the cloud, creating the beautiful nebulosity, or swirls of material, seen here in infrared.
In the center of the nebula are four monstrously massive stars, up to 100,000 times as luminous as our sun, called the Trapezium (tiny yellow smudge to the lower left of green splotches. Radiation and winds from these stars are blasting gas and dust away, excavating a cavity walled in by the large ring of dust.
Behind the Trapezium, still buried deeply in the cloud, a second generation of massive stars is forming (in the area with green splotches). The speckled green fuzz in this bright region is created when bullets of gas shoot out from the juvenile stars and ram into the surrounding cloud.
Above this region of intense activity are networks of cold material that appear as dark veins against the pinkish nebulosity. These dark veins contain embryonic stars. Some of the natal stars illuminate the cloud, creating small, aqua-colored wisps. In addition, jets of gas from the stars ram into the cloud, resulting in the green horseshoe-shaped globs.
Spitzer surveyed a significant swath of the Orion constellation, beyond what is highlighted in this image. Within that region, called the Orion cloud complex, the telescope found 2,300 stars circled by disks of planet-forming dust and 200 stellar embryos too young to have developed disks.
This image shows infrared light captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Light with wavelengths of 8 and 5.8 microns (red and orange) comes mainly from dust that has been heated by starlight. Light of 4.5 microns (green) shows hot gas and dust; and light of 3.6 microns (blue) is from starlight.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Toledo

This is a heavily filtered photo of the #OrionNebula . I filtered it so it would look as majestic as I feel it is. It's sad that we get so caught up in hating each other and nobody cares to stick their heads in books that could possibly change their life. We humans are remarkable animals with astounding capabilities once we focus and put our minds to it. And the expansions of our galaxy are no exception to how far we can go. It might take a few centuries, or even millenniums, but we'll get there, if we play our cards right.
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New article coming soon to The Fire along with a sneak at a project I've been working on! Stay tuned. #TheFire#astronomy#orion#multiverse#space#science#stringtheory#aliens#exoplanets#stars#galaxies

★Barnard's Loop★
Barnard's Loop (also known as Sharpless 2-276) is an emission nebula, about 1,600 light-years away, in the constellation of Orion. It is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex which also contains the dark Horsehead and bright Orion nebulae. The loop takes the form of a large arc centred approximately on the Orion Nebula. The stars within the Orion Nebula are believed to be responsible for ionising the loop (for more details on the Orion Nebula, check out our previous mini-article).
The loop extends over about 600 arcminutes as seen from Earth, covering much of Orion. It is well seen in long-exposure photographs, although observers under very dark skies may be able to see it with the naked eye.
Barnard's Loop is thought to have been formed by a series of supernovae that occurred two to three million years ago (which also gave rise to several runaway stars, including AE Aurigae, Mu Columbae and 53 Arietis) and is kept luminous by a group of hot young stars in the Orion OB1 Association. The ionized shell is part of an even larger molecular hydrogen cloud measuring some 30° across.
Although this faint nebula was certainly observed by earlier astronomers, it is named after the pioneering astrophotographer E. E. Barnard who photographed it and published a description in 1894.
#physics#physicsisnature#physics_is_nature#astronomy#BarnardsLoop#OrionNebula#Sharpless2276#universe#cosmos

This new image of the Orion Nebula was captured using the Wide Field Imager camera on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory, Chile. This image is a composite of several exposures taken through a total of five different filters. Light that passed through a red filter, as well as light from a filter that shows the glowing hydrogen gas, is coloured red. Light in the yellow–green part of the spectrum is coloured green, blue light is coloured blue and light that passed through an ultraviolet filter has been coloured purple. The exposure times were about 52 minutes through each filter.
Credit: ESO/Igor Chekalin
#ESO#LaSilla#Science#OrionNebula#Astronomy#Cosmology

Been learning a little bit more about stacking images to increase detail and decrease noise. This is my first attempt and it's 6 90sec images stacked together. Definitely noticed better quality when compared to 1 stand alone 90sec image. Absolutely amazing what you can do with a DSLR these days. So hard to believe this is real.

The Orion Nebula (M42) is a diffuse nebula & the brightest stellar nursery in the night sky. It greatly reveals how star & planetary systems are formed with discoveries of protoplanetary disks. Its the only nebula with a distinctive green hue caused by low-probability electron transition in ionized oxygen. Within are gas clouds & dust, & emits great amounts of stellar wind. Its the most studied nebula ever & a favorite among astronomers, & skywatchers. #astronomy#nebulae#OrionNebula#stellarnursery#stars#gasclouds#space#nightsky

The wonders of the universe. Astounding! Las maravillas del universo. ¡Asombroso! #Repost @theeconomist
The orion nebula and its associated cluster of stars, taken with the wide-field optical camera on the European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) VLT Survey Telescope. Photo released by the ESO on July 26th 2017. Credit: AFP/ESO #orionnebula#ESO#telescope#stars#space#astronomy

<3
#Repost from @theeconomist ... The orion nebula and its associated cluster of stars, taken with the wide-field optical camera on the European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) VLT Survey Telescope. Photo released by the ESO on July 26th 2017. Credit: AFP/ESO #orionnebula#ESO#telescope#stars#space#astronomy

#Repost @theeconomist (@get_repost)
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The orion nebula and its associated cluster of stars, taken with the wide-field optical camera on the European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) VLT Survey Telescope. Photo released by the ESO on July 26th 2017. Credit: AFP/ESO #orionnebula#ESO#telescope#stars#space#astronomy

Psalm 91, A Psalm of David “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭19:1-14‬ ‭KJV‬‬ #Repost @theeconomist ・・・ The orion nebula and its associated cluster of stars, taken with the wide-field optical camera on the European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) VLT Survey Telescope. Photo released by the ESO on July 26th 2017. Credit: AFP/ESO #orionnebula#ESO#telescope#stars#space#astronomy

Gorgeous 🤓 ☄#Repost @theeconomist (@get_repost)
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The orion nebula and its associated cluster of stars, taken with the wide-field optical camera on the European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) VLT Survey Telescope. Photo released by the ESO on July 26th 2017. Credit: AFP/ESO #orionnebula#ESO#telescope#stars#space#astronomy

Hello stargazers, this is Dennis again, presenting you my second choice for todays takeover of The Universe Today Channel. You'll find me @dkbilderwelten.
Living in a bigger city with a lots of light pollution around it, doesn't always make it easy for a stargazer like me. Still, sometimes, when the weather allows, something amazing is possible.
You'll looking at #M42 or the #OrionNebula . This picture is acutally a composition out of ten single pictures taken with a standard Canon 6D mounted on a #celestron c8 telescope with f10 and 2023mm. Each exposure took approximately 10 seconds. I couldnt take longer single exposures because just a rough alignment of the telescope mount was possible, since it was standing on a balcony with no direct sight to polaris and I had to guess the correct position more or less.
#nebula#deepsky#deepskyphotography#astrophotography#orion#finalfrontier
Want to be featured? Use the hashtag #universetoday or tag @universetoday and we'll check out your pictures.

For hundreds of years astronomers haven't had the privilege of photographically documenting nebulae and other celestial bodies. But even today one can appreciate the old methods of astrosketching. #astrosketch#astronomy#orion#orionnebula

Single frame image of a small dark cloud of cold molecules and dust within the Carina Nebula. Also known as the "Keyhole" Nebula it is one of the largest diffuse nebulae in our skies. Although it is some four times as large and even brighter than the famous Orion Nebula, the Carina Nebula is much less well known due to its location in the southern sky. Fortunately for us here in Hawaii we can see 100% of the northern sky, and 80% of the southern sky. Most aren't aware the Carina Nebula can be observed in Hawaii because it barley rises above the horizon for a short time in the spring. I captured this single frame image this year on the south side of Mauna Kea at about 11,000' elevation. No use of Autoguide, Wedge, or Polar Alignment. Just quick single frame horsepower.
Canon 5D Mark III
CPC 1100
Celestron Schmidt–Cassegrain
2800mm
F-10
ISO 20K
13 seconds -
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#astrophotography#orionnebula#nasa#celestron#nebula#nightshoot#nightphotography#telescope#miklywaychasers#hawaii#starhunter#longexposure#long_exposure#longexposureshots#longexposurephotography#canon @best_universe_ @timeless_universe @bestnightpix @bluejourney_astrophotography @darkarts_astro @celestronuniverse @fantastic_universe @astrophysics_ @astronomypicturesdaily @astronomicwonders @earth_escape @amazing_longexpo #bigisland#hawaiiisland#astronomy